Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!









Baby's first Christmas. She loved opening presents!

12 Days of Blessings

We are now in our new house. We moved in the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. But there were a few blessings mixed in. The movers came on Monday and unloaded all our stuff. Nothing was missing or broken beyond repair (Blessing #1). Tuesday our car broke down on a major two lane road. (Blessing #2: if it had broken down the week before "little a" would have been stranded at school, if it had broken down one day later we would have been on our way to Wisconsin for Aunt K wedding which was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.) Blessing #3: within 5 minutes of the breakdown someone stopped to see if we needed help. Blessing #4: the person who stopped just happen to be driving a mini van with no occupants and could take me and my three children back to our house. Blessing #5: This kind person happens to have a sister who lives on the same block as us. Blessing #6: The sister came by to see if we needed anything. As it turns out both sister are members of the church we belong to. Blessing # 7: On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, T was able to get our old car out of police impound and towed to a dealership, trade it in for $1000 credit toward a 2004 Hnda Oddesy. That was pretty impressive since everything seemed to be closing early. Blessing #8:We had enough of our kitchen unpacked that I was able to cook and impromptu Thanksgiving dinner for our family on Thursday made entirely of things I picked up at the grocery store that morning. Blessing #9: After canceling our plans to attend Aunt K's wedding we were able to find someone (my cousin Sh.) to watch all four of our kids at the last minute. Aunt K was beautiful and it was so nice to met Uncle J's family and welcome him into the family. I can still feel the glow as a recall everything now. Blessing #9: Although little J was sick on the way home Sunday he didn't have any incidents south of Chi., which was about an 8 hour stretch. Blessing #10: the US pres. gave T Dec 26th off work.

Maybe I should think of two more and title this my 12 Days of blessings between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's pretty easy. Blessing #11: T has a much better job than he had this time last year. Blessing #12:
"Little e" has started walking. She is so grown up. I can't believe she is almost one. With all my planning for Christmas I keep thinking in the back of my mind, what should we do for her birthday. Our family tradition is to have a shaped cake ( "little a" had a frog, "little t" had a smile, "little j" had a race car) and take the family to the zoo (hoping the one year old will recognize some of the animals from the baby books.) I think it might be a bit too cold to go to the zoo in January. We'll have to wait and see.

House Pics

I took pictures at our final inspection. We have 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. The house is still occupied and they are in the process of moving. We will be moving in sometime in the next ten days. Maybe I'll get some good pictures of bedrooms and such later, but here's a few for you to enjoy now.



#1 Front - This style house is called the Charleston, built 1964


#2 Front door

#3 Kitchen
#4 Back yard (you can see the school sign, we're really close to the school.)


#5 Master bathroom

Not everything in the house is updated, but what is done is really nice (ex: kitchen, master bathroom.) We hope to move in by Nov 22nd. Maybe sooner if things work out well.

Halloween Pictures

We finally downloaded our Halloween pictures.

First: Pumpkins created by t, a, a, and j. Little t wanted his to be the scariest ever.


Second: Pumpkins lit.

Third: Little a's class Halloween party. They were so nice and let her little brothers participate. I totally wasn't expecting that.


Fourth: Halloween costumes.

Little A is Sleeping Beauty, E is a Ladybug (this one's been passed through the family a few of you may recognize it.), J is a sports guy (we spent days searching for a sports costume this is the only one we found and it's *way* to big for him, but he loved it, T is Buzz Lightyear (finally! the costume was in storage last year and it was so sad for him.)

Fifth: We made a brownie cake (as if the trunk or treat sugar wasn't enough.) :)

Last: We had a great Indian summer here. It was really warm all the way till last Thursday. We loved the leaves!

Cut through the tape

I feel like I've conquered the labyrinth! "Little a" will start first grade on Monday. When we left her old school the teachers said they recommended moving her to first grade. (Something they don't do there because they have full day kindergarten and prefer augmentation.) Then we moved
here where they do half day kindergarten. I asked when we registered her if we could do an assessment for first grade. They said they don't do that here. I hate being the pushy parent, but I didn't want her to have the stigma or stress of moving classes. I finally resigned myself and put her in kindergarten. After one day the teacher came to me about her abilities. It took her some time. She set up an assessment and talked to the principal and got through all the red tape for us. All the time she was so sweet about not wanting to lose "Little a" in her class. Thanks Mrs. Kindergarten teacher!

I hope she does well in first grade. I hope the work will be more appropriate and challenge her. I want her to get the "Ahh! I learned something new!" feeling.

We will also close on our house next Wednesday. We were ready to close on the 30th, but the seller needed a bit more time to fix a few things. Hopefully we can move in before Thanksgiving.

Happy Belated Birthday

"Little A" had a birthday in September. Since then I've gone to a graduation, moved and gone to a wedding. Her birthday slide show got put on the back burner. I kept telling myself it's okay it's still October. Well, now it's November so I guess it's time to catch up.

Happy Birthday "Little A"! It's been a crazy year. We moved to a new state one week after you turned 5. Then a few weeks after you turned 6 we moved to another state. You said next year when we move you want to move to Indiana. I asked why Indiana? That's were Josh is moving to. (Actually Josh was moving to India.) But it was cute. You've been such a trooper through so many big moves. You are quick to notice patterns. Your birthday party has doubled as a good bye party for the last two years. Next year we hope will be different.

You have many talents. You love to read, cook and draw. You love it when you are told you are a great artist. You are a great artist!!! I noticed you like to arrange your toys and take photos of them. So this year we got you your own camera. I hope it helps you further develop your eye for good composition. We love you and wish you all the best in your next year.

It's a Small World

I went to my brother's wedding this weekend in the Provo area. It was so nice to catch up with so many good old friends. One of my good friends going back to the Marine Corp days recently moved back to Logan again. In her blog I could see her house was close to my cousin's house. I saw my cousin at the wedding so I asked if they were in the same ward. Yes! not only are they in the same ward, but e and Kaylee are in the same class at school!! And they had never made the connection that they both knew me. Later I was reflecting and realized that I had actually tried to introduce these two friends years ago when we all lived in Logan. I thought e and Kaylee would get a kick out of this. Here's a picture from Halloween 2005.

ABC Tag

Thanks Erin! I read more than I post. I'm finally getting to this one.

A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: All my friends are The Best
C-Cake or Pie: Pie
D-Day of Choice: Sunday
E-Essential Item: prayer
F-Favorite Color: Sky blue
G-Greatest Accomplishment: I'll think about this one
H-Hometown: Bountiful, UT
I-Indulgences: staying up late
J-January or July: July
K-Kids: Have four we want more, just not right away
L-Life is incomplete without: My family
M-Marriage Date: May 26, 2001 (sadly, I had to look it up, but I guessed right!)
N-Number of Siblings: 5
O-Oranges or Apples: both (in season)
P-Phobias or Fears: child abuse
Q-Quotes: Love them! Here's one of my favorite mantras: Don't give up what you want most for what you want at the moment.
R-Reason to Smile: The world is beautiful.
S-Season: Fall!!! Even in the south where the colors aren't as vibrant I love harvest time.
T-Tag 5 friends: I'll only tag two Camille and Abby
U-Unknown Fact About Me: I was in the Hill Cumorah Pageant twice.
V-Very Favorite Store: Goodwill (I got a gorgeous, pristine, three foot princess castle there today for five dollars!)
W-Worst Habit: Not hanging up my towel (oops, I always forget.)
X-X-Ray or UltraSound: UltraSound
Y-Your Favorite Food: Really good bread
Z-Your Zodiac Sign: I can never remember maybe Gemini

Moved Out

We packed up and moved out. So now we're in a new state. I wont mention which one except. . . o . . that it's the only state that says "hi" in the middle. Of course in Hawaii they say Aloha. I'm starting to learn Air Force lingo. I learned chemistry lingo in college. I learned Marine Corp lingo during our time there, and now it's Air Force lingo. We are in TLF after our PCS from OTS and we're waiting for our house to close. (Translation: we're in a Temporary Lodging Facility after a Permanent Change of duty Station from Officer Training School.)

So I met a man who had retired from the Air Force. He said when Marines greet one another they say "U- rah" (this is true.) But when Airmen greet each other they say "Is there a jacuzzi in this hotel?" So the Air Force is supposed to be the good life. But it looks like he'll be traveling A LOT. They told him to sign up for all frequent flier/driver/guest programs he could then he can cash in when he finally gets a chance to take leave.

I'm Back

I was just going to make a quick post. Then I noticed a few new comments. So I thought I'd explain my long absence. We went on vacation for two weeks at the end of August. When we got back our computer was down. It needed a new power supply. We got it back the night before I left to pick up Tyler and then here we are back and with a huge moving "To Do" List.

I finally got the garden picture posted that I took the beginning of August. We stopped by today and got a ton of tomatoes. What was that recipe for tomato soup again? Anyone?

Oh, and I remember I wanted to explain my comment to Arianne about EC (Elimination Communication). I think the cloth diapers is sort of what I was thinking of. I have come to understand that people have different views of what "EC" actually is. I like my sisters mantra of "Don't marinade the baby." I think of EC as a different way to look at diapering.

Where I live they have mandatory recycling and I realized what a huge percentage of my non-recycleable waste was diapers. I was surprised and wanted to reduce it, but I didn't really want it all to end up in the laundry. So what is your other option? Reduce the number of diapers you need. I never even thought to take a baby to the toilet. I'm not 100%, but I like to reduce the number of diapers I use even if it is just a few. I haven't taken the plunge to cloth diapers yet, but I'm starting to get serious about it. I wish cloth diaper companies were more agressive on marketing. It would make it easier to choose a brand. Suggestions?

Graduation

Graduation Parade. You can see T pretty well third row in the middle.

Pinning on. He's now a 2nd Lieutenant.

Just when you think it will never happen it does. It was weird to walk around the OTS complex (training school) and think that is where he was all that time. It was also fun to meet all the people I kept hearing about. Everyone was really nice and they all talked about how they were glad they got to go through with T. He makes things fun for everyone.

We were really glad that E seemed to remember Dad. She was really a daddy's girl. When we got together with T's family she would check out his brothers. She'd study their faces as if she was trying to decide if it was dad. She was a little shy the first day, but now a week later dad is #1 again.

Now if we can just figure out how to get to our first duty station by the 8th we'll be good to go.

Orders Are In

We finally got orders!!! We report October 8th. We'll be in the same little midwest town as KarateMommy and the McConnells. I'm pretty excited to see our friends from WSV again. Moving so much is hard. It is significantly softened by having friends there to greet us.

I just finished a post about our garden too. I'll have to drag my camera along next time we go out to the garden.

Here's some pictures of the kids. I've always been a sucker for ice cream trucks. I remember chasing them down the street when I was growing up and spending whatever money was in my piggy bank to buy two Nutty Buddy bars. One for me and one for my buddy Tiffany.





Here's some pictures of E at 7 months.

The Parable of the Hoe

I love to garden. One of my favorite primary songs is “The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden,”

1. The prophet said to plant a garden, so that’s what we’ll do.
For God has given rich brown soil, the rain and sunshine too.
And if we plant the seeds just right and tend them carefully,
Before we know, good things will grow to feed our family.

2. We’ll plant the seeds to fill our needs, then plant a few to spare,
And show we love our neighbors with the harvest that we share.
Oh, won’t you plant a garden, too, and share the many joys
A garden brings in health and love to happy girls and boys!

Words and music: Mary Jane McAllister Davis, 1925–1988. © 1982 IRI

Recently I took my four young children (ages 5 and under) to the garden. We really went into town to buy groceries. But I decided we should at least drop by the garden and pick the beans and cucumbers and see if the corn is starting to get ripe. We have done this before. I’ve learned that I have about 40 minutes to an hour before the kids have had enough gardening.

We arrived to find the weeds on the pathway flanking our plot had been mowed down. Our knee high (and higher) weeds growing with our vegetables were exposed! I quickly picked the ripe beans and cukes. Then I started in on a mad dash of yanking out the tallest of the weeds. I was focusing on the weeds around productive, non-vine vegetables and around the edges of our plot where there was a clear line of division between the weed-less neighboring plots and our towering plot of weeds.

As I rounded the bend behind the corn I noticed that my garden neighbor seemed to have weeded some of the larger weeds in our plot. How nice! Then a woman pulled up in a car. I could see she had her own young children with her. She said “I was doing that all summer.” I thought she was referring to pulling the weeds at the edge of our the plot. She must be the kind neighbor. But no, she meant bending down and tearing the weeds by hand. “I spent 5 hours a week pulling out weeds. Then someone gave me a tip and I went to the store and bought one of these.” She then pulled her weeder hoe from the car. “It takes them all out” she explained. Then she demonstrated how to weed with the hoe. It was like a weed broom. Instead of pulling each and every weed, it swept them all out with easy strokes.

I was amazed and somewhat embarrassed. “I have one of those in my car” I stammered. “I thought it only worked on small weeds.” “I had no idea, thank you for showing me.”

How foolish I had been and how grateful I felt. Her kindness truly blessed me. I pulled out my weeder hoe and began “sweeping” out the weeds. I had bought the hoe at the beginning of the season because I knew that’s what my dad used for weeding. But I only remember him using it on small weeds. I thought I wouldn’t work on the big ones. Their roots were probably too deep. Perhaps I wasn’t getting the entire root, but it was much more effective that what I had done previously.

I thought this is really an analogy for spiritual life as well. We know there are weeds that need to be pulled. Weeds are wrong choices that lead to habit that lead to tradition that lead to culture. The weeds stunt our growth, spread disease and can even choke the life out of our plants.

We may wish to keep weeds out, but we just feel it is hopeless. We may feel that the weeds around us shelter our weeds from the world’s view and make it somehow okay. Hey, everyone has weeds. I wont get a red stake and have my plot tilled under because that plot over there is *way* worse than mine.

But in truth, no matter how we rationalize, weeds are not good for our garden. Then some kind person may happen by and share their knowledge. They take the time to leave their own family and show us how to use a tool that will help us rid our garden of weeds. For some perhaps we will have to go invest in a new tool. In my case is that I already had the tool. I learned in my youth it was a tool for weeding gardens. It has been in my car everyday since I planted the garden. I’ve only used it once and didn’t understand the full potential it held for freeing my garden from weeds.

Thank you to a friend at the community garden. You have blessed my life. There are still weeds in my garden. But you have given me hope.

Catching Up

A creative way to get my kids to eat vegetables. I ask if the want one scoop or two then tell them they're not for eatting but for making letters or pictures. I made this design.



My birthday was last month and this was my cake. Yes it's Transformers!! Little t didn't get a theme cake this year and . . . well. . . I didn't mind sharing. It was fun to make.


The second generation. Little J goes to infinity and beyond.

E as the Superstar. Little a brought this home from summer school.

Happy 4th of July

So many little blessings today. E is 6 months old now. Dad called yesterday and when she heard his voice she said "Da-Da". Okay, she says "da, da, da. . ." all the time, but this was clear and concise. She has always been a Daddy's girl and is the first of our kids to say "da" before "ma." I think it means a lot to "T" that she seems to remember him.

I took the kids to the parade today. We got there late and forgot to bring the stroller or hats (at least I remembered sunscreen and the baby sling). I love parades and the kids love candy so we were glad to be there. Soon after we picked a spot that wasn't too crowded my neighbor saw us and let us sit by them. They gave me a chair to sit in which was nice since "E" slept through the entire show.

After the parade we walked down to the park and saw some friends from church who invited us to join their picnic. It was very refreshing. They had a big blanket laid out in the shade. The kids played at the playground and we enjoyed music from a polka band with surprisingly young performers. You've gotta love it!

So far a great day. People are so nice. Now the kids are napping and we hope to catch some fireworks tonight. Note to self: load stroller in car. And, don't forget the bug spray. After all that flooding the mosquitoes are flourishing!!

Bike Trailers and Joggers

I'm supposed to be researching A bike/jogging stroller. Instead I'm blogging. But maybe I can kill two birds with one stone here.

Goal: Get my kids to school at 8 AM and get exercise at the same time.

I thought with today's gas prices I could justify a bike and trailer, but I have four little ones none of which are strong enough riders to bike the 1 mile (uphill) to school. Any ideas? What do you like or dislike about bike trailers? Is it good to get one that can also be a stroller?

One friend told me she used to put a baby seat on the back of her bike and two kids in the bike trailer. So that's three. Maybe I could get at least one of them to ride their own bike.

A few new pictures

We got our family photo taken today. It was a little ironic because the town was flooded. Businesses all around us were pumping out basements and emergency crews were driving by. But the park was pleasant and the plants didn't mind all the rain. We might have postpone but T will be starting his new job soon, so we decided to go on with the show.

And since I'm posting anyway, here are some other great shots. Cold winters and rainy springs lead to creative play. Yes, we put the car out in the cold/rain and let the kids play in the garage.

Preschool is still going. . . sort of. One day we learned about tigers and made masks. Only "Little t" made a robot mask instead of a tiger mask. "Little a" will start summer school on Monday. To give her a chance at half day. Kindergarten will be a full day when it starts in the fall.

April showers bring May flowers. In our case May flowers are dandelions. After so much cold and snow it was amazing to see the fields covered in yellow blossoms.

Miracles Grow

I finally broke down and signed up for the community garden in the town next to ours. It's a 20 minute drive, but I just can't resist the miracle of growing things. I know we probably wont save any money growing vegetables 20 minutes away. I finally justified it as a teaching tool for my kids. Plus, I roped in our family that lives there. It gives us all something to do together.

We planted 5 rows of corn, two sunflowers, a row of beans, a row of carrots and radishes, four tomatoes, 12 peppers (for salsa), and a hill of cucumbers. It's a big space, so we still have a lot of room to plant melons and pumpkins. I should mention we didn't actually use Miracle Grow, but a standard 10-10-10 fertilizer.

Our garden is full of blessings already. Our neighbor gardener offered to rototill our plot, saving us hours of digging in the clay-like soil to loosen it up. Also, on Saturday and were surprised that corn and sunflowers were already starting to poke up through the soil.

Speaking of miracles. I want to say something out of deep humility and gratitude. I have reason to believe that people with a lot of faith have been praying for our family. Something amazing happened last week. I wont mention here beyond it was a miracle and beyond what my own faith could produce. I have a feeling that it was due to the faith and prays of others on our behalf. If it was you, I wanted to let you know that your prayer has been answered in an amazing way. Thank you for your service to our family. My own faith in prayer and the Lord's tender mercies has been strengthened. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Tagged 3's

Tagged by Lajuana. I’m way behind on posting and here are a few little bits that help catch me up. I think the ChicagoSapps have written more about us than I have this month. So thanks and here we go. . .

3 Joys:
1. Cooking. I have come to realize I love to cook. Even when it makes absolutely no sense I want to cook all my meals from scratch if possible. It’s satisfying and fascinating for me.
2. My faith in God. I probably should have thought of this first. I don’t think I could keep going if I didn’t trust that God is over all and loves everyone of us. There is a way to overcome every trail and cheerfully too. We just have to look and trust and we will find it.
3. My family. I’m sort of borrowing this from Lajuana, but it’s true. Spending time with them is a joy. I love seeing my little children discover new things like today when the discovered the robin eggs they’ve been watching are now pink fuzzy robin chicks.

3 Fears:
1. The changing world. I probably shouldn’t read the newspaper. I’ll stop there.
2. My husband going to training. Three months I think I can handle, six months scares me.
3. Sending my first child to public school. I know everyone is a little scared with their first. I just really want my children to have a positive experience and I wish I knew all the things I will learn from this *right now* so I can make the best choices.
(Side note: about two weeks ago it would have been stinking. I started having an allergic reaction to deodorant after E was born. I tried *lots* of things but found that baking soda mixed with lemon juice works better than any deodorant I’ve ever used. We’ll see where summer takes us, but right now I’m not looking back.)

3 Goals:
1. Write down six most important things to do each day and then do them. Slow and steady wins the prize. Right?
2. Get up and dressed before the kids get up. Always a struggle for me.
3. Host a family dinner once a month.

3 Current Obsessions:
1. Gardening. This year I’m hoping to ease up and share it more with my family and kids. I just love watching things grow.
2. Blogging. I read way too many. No wonder I never post.
3. Reading. I’m a terribly obsessive reader. If I start a good book I want to finish rather than put it down. It has lead to more than one late, late, late night.

3 Random/Surprising Facts about Myself:
1. I have a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Science. This even surprises me some days. You’d never know it by my current lifestyle.
2. I worked at a small Boy Scout camp for two summers.
3. I’ve never read a Jane Austin book. Maybe I will sometime when my kids are older. Like when I’m waiting for teenagers to come home. Then I can stay up way too late and not feel so guilty.

I tag Laura. If you have time. :) And anyone else who thinks they want to take the challenge. I’d tag Regina too, but I don’t know if I can tag her kind of blog.

Mother's Day

Even though I have four kids it's still hard for me to think mother's day is for me. Yesterday at church, a youth speaker in our branch read four definitions of a mother. Two of the definitions followed along the lines of elderly respected women. Perhaps that is why I don't feel the pull. It's hard to celebrate the battle's won while you're still in the trenches. It's not that I don't feel like a mother. I am probably called mom more than any other name at this point. I have chosen to stay at home and raise my little ones, so I do a lot of mothering. But I see mother's day as being a celebration for my mothers not myself. So here's to my own mother and other wonderful women that have influenced my life. I would not be who I am today without the strength I gained from you. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Little t

Little t turned 4 last week. Wow! I made a slide show for him of pictures from the last year. He had grown so much. He is such a boy. For his birthday we took him to the children's museum. Then we went to the YW camp fund raiser, a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction. The dessert auction is traditionally a very good way for them to get money for camp (example: $60 for a pie, $15 for a plate of chocolate covered marshmallows.) They were kind though and let Little t win the dessert he wanted, a cherry chocolate torte. It probably could have gone for well over $30 but he got it for $15. He loved it! He is such a fruit eater.

After we got home from the fund raiser and got all the kids in bed T checked his e-mail and found out that he was selected for Air Force Officer in the Financial Management field. It is a great opportunity and we are pretty excited about it. There is still a lot I don't know. Because of T's current work schedule I didn't get to talk to him much more than a few words in passing for the next several days. I've been trying to gather all the information and details about what all this means. Yes, we'll be leaving. But beyond that for now I'll just say it's good news and I'll keep you posted.

It is interesting to note we received the news that took us here the day Little a turned 5. I remember it, T called me one hour before Little a's birthday party started and we moved one week later. Now we received the news that will take us away from her the day Little t turned 4. Only this time one week later we probably still wont know when we're leaving. Still, it's poetic! I love when things turn out that way.

Year Three for Little t

Happy Birthday T

Today is "T"'s birthday. I have a lot I want to say. But for now I'll just leave the comments of little "t".

"I'm so glad about today because it's daddy's birthday. He's getting two presents. A camping stove (actually a charcoal grill) and (long pause) camping stove rocks."

More baby pics

We have another birthday coming up so I've been going through the photos. Here's some more baby photos.

More Reminiscing

I found this old picture of a preschool group we did last year. Ah! the memories. One of the girls is the daughter of my old roommate. (Not the long lost one of course.)

Looking Back

I got an invited on Goodreads.com today from one of my freshman roommates. There were six of us in the apartment and five of us were pretty close. I keep up with all of the others through blogs and e-mail, but one was long lost until today. It totally makes my day!

I credit this long lost roommate as being my sanity saver through the years we were roommates. I was a worrier and pretty immature. (I probably still am, but I'm getting better.) She taught me to be myself. She also insisted I not fret about grades. She set a great example of working hard, learning and keeping a balanced life. She also taught me all the words to songs from They Might Be Giants and the B-52's. Thanks for the good times El!

Magic Show

Last Friday "T" and I went to a work dinner party. For entertainment they had Braier's Magic do a show. They handed out free promo DVDs so we took one for the kids. They LOVED it! Since then they have been putting on their own magic shows. I took a video. I hope I can get it to work.

J's First Two Years

b

Blessing Day

This post is way overdue. We blessed E last Sunday. Here are some pictures. I made the dress when I was expecting A. A cousin of mine was making dresses for her nieces. I was inspired. Making this dress was A LOT more work than I thought it would be. I'm glad I got to use it more than once.